karenclang |
Oct 15th, 2013 06:57 AM |
You can travel to eastern Tibet (Amdo and Kham) without an organized tour and take local transportation. You will need a Chinese visa and likely the help of a local agency in Xining (Snowlion, Tibetan Connections) to help you find a guide. Travel to central Tibet requires in addition that you have a Tibet permit (only a travel agency can get this for you) and that you book an organized tour with a guide and driver. The requirement that you be part of a group tour of same nationality was dropped in April 2013. You can be a "group of one. "
I've traveled in Bhutan, Nepal, Mongolia, and Eastern Tibet and found conversations with nuns and monks much freer in all those places than in central Tibet. But the tibetan guide we had in central Tibet was candid, knowledgeable about Tibetan Buddhism and not following any official party line. The guide isn't with you 24/7 and I also spent time visiting smaller temples in Lhasa with a tibetan speaking friend.
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